Tom Cruise Said to "Have Issues" with The Master; Lines Up The Magnificent Seven Remake

05.24.12 by Ryan

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Throughout his long career, actor Tom Cruise has received three Academy Award nominations, the last of which was for Magnolia, director Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 ensemble drama. Anderson's latest work, The Master, recently debuted its first trailer. Cruise and Anderson apparently remain friendly, as the director screened the movie for him, The Wrap reports; however, Cruise apparently wasn't completely impressed.

According to the report, Cruise's disenchantment stems from his devotion to the Church of Scientology. The Master centers on a family man (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who starts his own cult-like religion, which has long been reported to be loosely based on Scientology. Apparently, two sources close to the movie claim that Cruise "had issues" with some parts, and that Anderson was hoping to head off conflict over the movie from the growing religious organization. The report also claims that The Master's distributor, The Weinstein Company, intends to show the movie to John Travolta, another follower of Scientology.

For now, The Wrap report should be considered a rumor since Cruise's spokesperson and another for the Church of Scientology have both declined to comment.

Alleged movie screenings aside, Cruise has been busy. The actor has plenty of projects lined up, starting with the musical Rock of Ages that opens next month. His action-thriller One Shot opens at the end of the year. Cruise will follow that up with two sci-fi movies. First, in 2013 is Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski's sci-fi epic Oblivion (which is currently shooting). It will likely be followed by director Doug Liman's adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka's novel All You Need Is Kill.

Even with all those projects on the horizon, Cruise has decided to add another — a remake of director John Sturges' 1960 Western The Magnificent Seven. Variety reports Cruise has long been interested in the remake, and is attached to star despite the movie not yet have a director or screenwriter. Before anyone gets upset about the remaking of yet another classic movie, it's worth remembering that The Magnificent Seven is a remake itself, basing its story on director Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. (Check out the clips below.)

The Magnificent Seven spawned three sequels — surely Cruise wouldn't be against adding another potential franchise to his slate. The remake likely won't get in front of cameras anytime soon. Rather, it's likely to take a back seat to the other projects Cruise already has in development, such as Top Gun 2 and Untitled Les Grossman Project.